Various shapes and types of bone plates to be used for osteosynthesis of fragmented bones and for stabilization of bones are known. The shape, size and type of a bone plate are usually adapted to the bones that shall be stabilized or immobilized. Hence, a large inventory of bone plates is typically necessary to be able to treat many different kinds of fractures or other defects at different locations.
There exist also modular bone plate systems that allow construction of a bone plate adapted to a specific application and to the individual patient by combining single members to form a whole bone plate. For example, US 2009/0082813 A1 describes a modular bone plating system including a plurality of bone plates including a male coupling portion, a female coupling portion and a shaft extending between the male coupling portion and the female coupling portion, wherein each of the male coupling portions of each of the plurality of bone plates is configured to couple with each of the female coupling portions of each of the other of the plurality of bone plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,439 describes a modular femur fixation device. The device comprises an upper side plate with a widened head and an angled barrel, and a lower side plate adapted to be engaged with the upper side plate in a tongue and groove configuration.